Lexi woke up with the urge to pee, but when she took stock of her situation, she found a babe sleeping at one breast and a husband at the other. She was still bound by a pair of sashes, and her arms were wrapped around Hades's neck, which meant there would be no slipping out of bed stealthily.

"Hades," she whispered. "Are you asleep?"

"I don't know. Is this a dream?"

"No. You really did tie up your wife and have your wicked way with her. Now she needs to pee."

"Do you need a locksmith, my lady?"

"I think your nimble fingers will do."

Hades blinked his eyes open, looking adorably unkempt, and Lexi kissed him because there was no one else she would rather wake up tied to.

"A god could get used to this," he said as he dipped behind her hair to nibble her earlobe.

"Don't get used to it. Your goddess still needs to pee."

"Apologies, my queen, but your beauty is like nectar, and I always want it on my lips." He whispered his seduction at Lexi's ear and a shudder rippled to her groin. Now she really had to pee, but Hades didn't make her suffer any longer. He ducked under her arms and began untying her wrists, grinning at Juniper curled against Lexi's chest. "Our daughter looks blissfully happy where she is. How did you sleep? No visits from errant spirits?"

"No, only visits from errant husbands."

"Your grace!" Fiona barked through the speaking tube, and Lexi had to clench her buttocks to avoid an embarrassing accident.

"What is it, Fiona?" Hades called over her head.

"Our rogue spirit has taken advantage of Sella! I found her in the pantry in a state!"

"We'll be right down!"

Lexi and Hades both rolled out of bed, jostling Juniper awake and putting her into a state. Hades gestured Lexi toward the bathroom and swaddled Juniper in her blanket. During Lexi's mad dash to the toilet, multiple scenarios played inside her head. What kind of state was Sella in? That term carried a wide range of options. Being woken abruptly could put someone in a state. Or eating a bad mushroom. Was Sella ill? Delusional? Was she even conscious? How had Josef taken advantage of her?

By the time Lexi and Hades arrived downstairs, the nymphs had moved Sella to her bed where Lacy comforted her with a wet compress. While Hades stormed off to the pantry to investigate there, Fiona brewed tea over the nymph's firepit, filling Lexi in on the events leading up to Sella's discovery.

"I noticed she wasn't in her bunk, but I didn't think anything of it. Sella often preps the kitchen for me. So I went about my morning. When I got to the pantry, there she was, curled in the corner, like a fawn in the woods."

"Was she crying? Was she...bleeding?"

Fiona cocked her head, giving Lexi a motherly appraisal. "No, my lady. She was slaked from a lusty affair with our miscreant spirit. Her life force was all but snatched, and we need your healing. Without it, she will lie like this for days."

Lexi stood over Sella's bed, watching the nymph's eyelids flutter faintly as Lacy dabbed her forehead. "Are you saying Josef really is an incubus?"

"Yes! The son-of-a-bitch!" Hades stomped into the room, his bellow disturbing the quiet, and Sella's eyes snapped open. Hades lowered his head when he realized what he'd done, and he coughed out a reply. "My apologies, Sella. I should have checked myself at the door. How are you feeling?"

"Tired, sire. Did you catch the rogue yet?"

"No. But I will."

"When you do...bring him to me," she went on groggily. "I want to thank him for a wonderful time."

Fiona clicked her tongue. "Sella, you're delirious. You need to sleep it off."

Hades only shook his head at the thunderstruck nymph. "I'm taking my search upstairs. I'll check on Juniper. Wear this sash, Lexi. He won't come near you if you have it."

He handed the sash to Lexi, and she wrapped it around her waist without complaint. "As you wish, my lord."

Hades left as swiftly as he'd come, and Fiona pulled up a chair next to Sella's bed. "Take comfort, your grace."

Lexi sat down and laid her palm gently on Sella's hand. The nymph's cherubic face had aged. There were creases under her eyes that weren't there before. Had Sella lost her longevity along with her life force? Would Lexi be able to restore Sella's youth with her healing gifts? She could resurrect and heal. But reversing age? Surely, that wasn't how it worked. Still, despite Sella's haggard appearance, she looked happy.

Damn that Josef. Why had he done this? He ruined any chances of leniency on Lexi's part, but she refused to allow vengeance to fuel her actions. He was a product of Melinoe's making, and he was probably forced to drain Sella's energy to keep from turning to dust. Or was he just following the lusty instincts of an incubus?

Lexi had many questions to ask Sella about her encounter with the rogue spirit, but she didn't want to ask with an audience present. She glanced across the bed at Lacy as she wrung out the compress over a bowl of water. "Lacy, would you mind seeing to Juniper, so Hades can continue his rampage? I'll take care of Sella."

"As you wish, my lady." Lacy handed over the compress and grabbed a dress from a hook on the wall before scurrying out of the room.

"Well, breakfast won't make itself," Fiona said as she cinched her sash around her tiny waist. "I'll leave you to it, your grace."

Grateful that Fiona had a household to run, Lexi scooped up Sella's hand and began her healing debriefing session. "Can you hear me, Sella?" she asked softly, letting the sound of the crackling fire cover her voice.

"Yes, my lady."

"Tell me how you're feeling? Besides tired."

Sella smiled weakly. "Lovely."

"What do you mean by lovely?"

"He is a wonderful lover," Sella said wistfully, her eyelids lifting to reveal thin shards of green. "So gentle. So complimentary. My eyes enchanted him. We carried on and on until I thought I could hold no more pleasure."

"But he's a spirit. How did he give you pleasure?"

With some effort, Sella widened her eyes to look at Lexi, as if it was important that her point came across. "He felt as firm and virile as any god, but it was more than that. He did not have to touch me to give me pleasure. I am sorry for letting him get away. I know Lord Hades is cross, but if the rogue came to me again, I would not deny him."

Sella's body relaxed, and she let her eyelids droop closed. Her exhaustion was clear, and Lexi stopped her interrogation there, focusing instead on Sella's healing and thinking about the nymph's desire to be slaked again even as she suffered the consequences. 

The cries of a hungry infant soon roused Lexi from her chair, and while she attended to the children, Hades spent the better part of the morning combing the palace. But Josef continued to elude him, and when afternoon rolled around, Hades announced he was taking his search outside. Ely offered to help his father, grabbing his longest sword from the closet and bounding out the door on Hades's heels.

With the sound of slamming doors not ringing in everyone's ears, Lexi found Elm in her reading room, which consisted of a small nook with a bay window and just enough space for a writing desk. Hestia had incorporated a nook into each floor of Hades's palace when she designed it, and every space had been explored by Elm before she chose the room with the best view of the gorge. It was Lexi's favorite nook, too.

"I hope I'm not interrupting," Lexi said as she sat inside the thickly-cushioned alcove, pretending to look for Josef from the bay window. She had actually come to check on Elm, who often escaped to her nook when she was upset.

"I'm just drawing," Elm offered.

"It looks like you're drawing the elm in the grove. The leaves are very realistic."

"I know she doesn't look like this anymore. Her leaves are burnt."

"You're right, she doesn't look like that anymore, but she will again." Lexi waited for Elm to acknowledge her, which she did with a subtle nod. "I thought you might want to talk about Melinoe now, since we keep getting interrupted. I think you should know..."

"It's okay, mommy. We don't have to talk about Melinoe." Elm looked up from her drawing to eyeball Lexi through strands of chestnut hair. "I was angry before, but I'm not angry anymore."

"Angry about what?"

"About everyone blaming Melinoe for everything bad that happens."

"Oh. What made you change your mind?" Lexi could tell Elm was uncomfortable with the topic by the way she gently tapped her pencil on the desk, but there was no use putting it off.

"I know where the spirits came from. The ones that invaded our home. I recognized them from Melinoe's ceremonies. She caught them with her magic." Elm's chin drooped as she gave the floor her attention, while her pencil continued its rhythmic drumming. "She said she was going to give them a fun surprise before they went to their new life. I didn't ask what the surprise was. I should have asked."

Lexi felt a sickly pull in her gut. Melinoe had taken advantage of Elm. Earning her trust and preying on her curious nature. Lexi wanted to choke Melinoe with that damned veil of hers. "Thank you for telling me that, Elm. Your father and I suspected Melinoe was responsible for the spirits, but we didn't want to say this to you or Ely before we were sure."

Elm's eyes were watering as she glanced back up. "So, the fire in the grove had to be... And Valencia. And now Sella."

"What about Valencia? Are you talking about her fall from the balcony?"

Elm let the pencil gently come to rest on the desk. "Melinoe was with us."

"You didn't tell me Melinoe was on the balcony with you."

"Not on the balcony, but she was in the room. When Val said she could shoot an arrow over the wall and I told her she couldn't, Melinoe dared Val to prove it. I went along with it, but I was scared. Then Val fell, and I thought... I thought she was dead." Elm launched herself onto Lexi's lap and wrapped her small legs around Lexi's waist.

"Oh, Elm. I'm sorry." Lexi held her daughter as she whimpered, knowing it would not be the only time Elm would experience the pain of disappointment. "It hurts when someone we trust acts selfishly. But we can't let them make us cynical. Do you remember the word cynical?"

Elm nodded against Lexi's shoulder. "Zeus is cynical."

Lexi couldn't stop the chuckle as she enjoyed Elm's youthful honesty. "And you are very observant. You figured out Melinoe's agenda on your own, and now you need to decide where to go from here."

Elm sniffled as she lifted her face to look at Lexi. "Will you and Daddy punish Melinoe?"

"We haven't thought about punishment, yet. We've been busy chasing down spirits." Lexi knew that was a lie. She had thought about punishment, and now she was adding Josef to her list of offenders.

"Can you take me to the grove?" Elm asked as she rested her head on Lexi's chest. "I want to hug the elm...even if she's dirty. And I want to visit Shanty and Val."

"If our delinquent spirit is rounded-up by tomorrow, we will go then."

"Tomorrow?" Elm's head snapped up. "I need to finish the drawing then. I'm going to give it to the elm."

She bounced off Lexi's lap and landed back in her chair, picking up the pencil and setting to work. Lexi knew when she was being dismissed, and she left the overstuffed cushions to walk to the door.

"Mommy?" Elm turned in her seat, stopping Lexi on the threshold. "I know why you didn't heal the elm."

"You do? Why?"

"Because her burned body will remind Melinoe to be more careful about her choices. If you healed her right away, Melinoe wouldn't remember to do that."

Lexi felt a knot form in her throat as she nodded. "That's exactly right, sweetheart."

Taking her seven-year-old's humble observation into the hallway, Lexi wished she could adopt the mind of a child for a few hours, but she had an incubus to worry about and a household to protect. How dangerous was Josef apart from putting a nymph out of commission with his marathon love making? Surely, he was no match for a goddess. Was there something she could do to entice him? Could she lure him into a false sense of security then dupe him, like he did to her?

Lexi heard Juniper fussing even before she opened the bedroom door, and Lacy handed the babe over straight away. "She sensed you, my lady," Lacy said as she gathered up Juniper's dirty diaper and dropped it in the pail.

"I felt it too," Lexi said, making for her chair. "I started leaking halfway here. Lacy, would you be kind enough to have a glass of Chianti sent up to the room, please?"

"As you wish, your grace."

Lexi got Juniper latched on and stretched her legs across the ottoman, reaching her toes toward the fire. Slowly, she lifted the hem of her dress until it lay across her thighs, exposing her knees to the warmth. It was good she had shaved recently. Her skin gave off a healthy, bronze glow in the light of the flames. Lacy arrived with Lexi's wine shortly after Juniper finished nursing, and they made a trade.

"Juniper needs a bath," Lexi said. "Do you mind taking her to your bathroom, Lacy? She seems to prefer it in there."

"Yes, she does, my lady. I think it's the south-facing window. It lets in more light. Make sure to keep your sash with you...for protection." Lacy smiled sweetly, and Lexi couldn't decide if there was some hidden message behind it. The nymphs had their own brand of sarcasm.

"Don't worry. I won't let it out of my sight."

Lacy and Juniper disappeared from the room, leaving Lexi alone with her wine. She loved Chianti, and she wondered if Josef enjoyed wine when he was a mortal? Did the Vikings drink it? Either way, she thought it would be a useful prop as she stood from her chair and posed in front of the fireplace, touching the wine glass to her lips and breathing in the essence. She took a sip and let the tangy liquid rest on her tongue, closing her eyes to savor the experience.

The ties on her bodice were still undone from Juniper's feeding, and Lexi tugged on the drawstrings, widening the gap until her breasts tumbled out. She pretended Hades was sitting in his chair as she gathered the hem of her dress to her knees and lifted her foot to the seat. Then she took another sip from her glass, waiting, sensing. The room had fallen silent, and Lexi felt the heat from the fire behind her, but nothing more.

Was she playing to an empty house? How far did she need to go for Josef to take the bait? She set down her wine and continued to loosen her bodice until she was able to slip her arms out of the sleeves. Now, only the sash around her waist kept the dress on, and Lexi bent forward to grab her wine again, touching the glass to her breasts and sighing over the rim.

Nothing.

Was she being too obvious? Josef probably knew it was a trick, the clever delinquent. She was wearing the sash, for pity's sake. What if she removed it but kept it close, tucked into the cushion of a chair, maybe? Was she really in danger without it? She couldn't be subdued by a spirit, and she certainly wasn't about to be seduced by one like poor Sella. Lexi untied the sash and shimmied out of her dress, letting it pool at her feet. Then she dropped her panties.

With a groan, the door burst open, and Hades flew into the room. "I'll kill him!" he screamed as he barreled forward, swinging the sash over his head. A piercing – Crack! – caused Lexi to startle as the shimmery fabric snapped the air, and a puff of vapor shot through the opposite wall like a bullet from a gun.

Hades screeched to a halt in front of Lexi. "Are you all right, Lexi?"

"I'm fine. He wasn't here."

"Like hell, he wasn't! I saw him hovering at the door." Hades finally took a moment to assess Lexi's state of undress. "Why did you take off the sash? What were you doing?"

"Trying to entice a spirit, and it seems I was successful. If you hadn't shown up and scared him, I might have caught him myself."

Hades's nostrils flared. "How far did you plan to entice him?"

Ely tore past Hades and jumped on the bed, nearly taking out the decorative sheers with his sword. "Did you vanquish him, Daddy?"

Hades snapped out of his tirade to acknowledge his son. "I've got him on the run."

"Outside again?" Ely said as he pointed his plastic weapon at the door.

"No. We need a new battle plan."

"Can I be part of your battle plan? Can I carry a sash?" Ely bounced enthusiastically as he wreaked havoc on the bedsheets.

Hades walked to the bed and encouraged Ely to climb onto his back. "I will get back to you about the sash. I need a few minutes alone to think. I'll come find you." He carried Ely through the open door and let him slide down onto the tiles. Ely took off like a shot, and Hades returned to stand in front of Lexi, eyeing her nakedness suspiciously. "I thought after what happened to Sella, you would exercise more caution."

"I had the situation handled, Hades. It's not like I haven't dealt with spirits before."

"Josef is an incubus. Born of magic. He could possess any number of supernatural abilities." Hades's hardened gaze raked over Lexi once more, which was making her thoroughly embarrassed. "I'm going to do what I should have done yesterday," he growled.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to force Melinoe to vanquish the bastard."